Jaws (1975) / Smile, You Son of a Pod: Celebrating 50 Years of Jaws
Back from the depths! Nathan and Sam reunite for a special 101st episode to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s game-changing blockbuster Jaws (1975). It’s the movie that made us afraid to go in the water—and maybe even more afraid of small-town politicians in anchor-print blazers. We dive deep into the legacy of the first summer blockbuster, unpack legendary behind-the-scenes stories, nerd out over the film’s visual storytelling, and debate who Mark Wahlberg should play in a Jaws recast. (Hint: it’s not Quint.)
Plus: our double-feature recs for high-seas adventures, a splash of Mission: Impossible fallout, and one very silly rendition of "Show Me the Way to Go Home." You’re gonna need a bigger runtime.
Take our Poll - Help shape the future of our Podcast!
Sign up for new online newsletter, Frame Rate Monthly. Email backtotheframerate@gmail.com to subscribe.
Find all our episodes here on your preferred Podcast app:
https://backtotheframerate.com
Back to the Frame Rate is on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/backframerate/
Be sure to Follow us @backtotheframerate
https://www.facebook.com/backtotheframerate
https://www.instagram.com/backtotheframerate/
https://twitter.com/backframerate
https://www.tiktok.com/@backtotheframerate
https://www.youtube.com/@backtotheframerate - Where you can watch video versions
Email us at backtotheframerate@gmail.com
Follow Nathan on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/nathansuher/
Follow Bee on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/mambobumbles/
Copyright © Weston Media Center, Inc.
Transcript
In the dying embers of human existence.
Speaker A:As the asteroid, a behemoth the size of Texas, hurtles relentlessly toward Earth, the world braces for an apocalyptic end.
Speaker A:Deep beneath the bunker, a refuge plunges into the bowels of the earth.
Speaker A:Here the chosen gather their purpose clear to preserve the very soul of our civilization.
Speaker A:The 35 and 70 millimeter prints that encapsulate the magic, the emotion and the dreams of generations past.
Speaker A:These masterpieces, each frame a testament to the human spirit, are carefully cataloged and cradled in the cavernous confines of the bunker.
Speaker A:Perhaps there was room for more, for friends and family yearning for salvation.
Speaker A:But sacrifices must be made.
Speaker A:The movie nerds stand united, the keepers of a flame, promising a future where the art of storytelling endures, transcending the boundaries of time and space.
Speaker A:God help us all.
Speaker B:Welcome to Back to the Frame Rate, part of the Weston Media Podcast Network.
Speaker B:In the cinematic crusade, we journey through films on VOD and streaming platforms, deciding their fate, salvation in our vault of legends, or eternal banishment to the flames of the coming asteroid apocalypse.
Speaker B:You can find all episodes of our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app or.
Speaker B:Or find us on social media at Back to the Frame Rate.
Speaker B:I am Nathan Shore, and accompanying me is the mayor of Shark City, Sam Cole.
Speaker A:Amity means friendship.
Speaker A:We need summer dollars.
Speaker B:We do.
Speaker B:We need your dollars, everyone.
Speaker B:Send them over.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Sam, how are you doing?
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:It's good to be back.
Speaker A:I'm doing great.
Speaker A:It's amazing to be back.
Speaker A:It's been a little while.
Speaker A:It's been about six months.
Speaker A:But dare I say, do you realize that at this exact moment, do you know what we are doing?
Speaker A:We are in fact, going back to the frame rate.
Speaker A:We are literally.
Speaker B:I don't want to confuse the people out there.
Speaker B:We're doing this as a one off episode.
Speaker B:We might do this again sometime when we feel like it.
Speaker B:But this is a special episode because I think you and I can agree this episode we're going to be talking about, Jaws, it is a special time because it is the 50th anniversary of it.
Speaker B:We're recording this on June 18th and it's going to become.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:I think this is considered the first, like, real blockbuster when people look back at the history of this.
Speaker B:So this is.
Speaker B:I think this kind of defines what we're all about as cinema goers, cinema lovers.
Speaker B:This has had a profound impact on my life.
Speaker B:I know it did on yours.
Speaker A:Oh, God, Yes.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:This movie has just infiltrated the zeitgeist.
Speaker B:The way it was shot, the cinematography, the quotes in this.
Speaker B:It's the acting, it's.
Speaker B:This will be a lot of fun to dissect.
Speaker B:I worry, though, what are we gonna add to this?
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:It's like, by the way, this movie's really good.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I will say, I will address the elephant in the room.
Speaker A: t motion picture ever made is: Speaker A:But we have to.
Speaker A: review because it came out in: Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And no one saw it.
Speaker A:So join us as we review the shitter.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:Let's see.
Speaker B:Well, I guess we gotta get into this.
Speaker B:We're out of practice, everyone.
Speaker B:We don't really know what we're doing because after six months, it's like, how do we begin a show?
Speaker B:All I know is that some guy named Steven Spielberg directed this.
Speaker B:We have reviewed a couple of his films on back to the frame rate.
Speaker B:In fact, I think he might be winning as far as the amount of movies we've reviewed of his.
Speaker B:We did.
Speaker B:We've done Duel, we've done War of the Worlds.
Speaker B:We did Amistad.
Speaker B:What was in our.
Speaker B:In that retrospective?
Speaker B:I'm trying to think what else we did.
Speaker A:Amistad, Duel, War of the Worlds, and.
Speaker A:Oh, we.
Speaker A:Empire of the Sun, I think.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Empire, the sun was there.
Speaker B:One more.
Speaker B:We started it all off with always, though.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, of course.
Speaker B:You know what we did, we also went through the whole Indiana Jones franchise, too.
Speaker A:That was a lot of fun.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was really cool.
Speaker B: And so this film,: Speaker B:Carl Gottlieb.
Speaker B:The book was published, was written by Peter Benchley, and I think he also did some of the screenwriting on this as well.
Speaker B:John Williams, the composer on this, Bill Butler, the cinematographer.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And of course, I feel silly just going through the main players in this because they're.
Speaker B:Everybody knows these, you know, Roy Schneider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfus were the main players in this.
Speaker B:But when I look at, like, the deep cuts of the people in this, like.
Speaker B:Like Murray Hamilton, mar.
Speaker B:Credible in this.
Speaker B:Lorraine Gary, Ellen Brody, I don't know.
Speaker B:There's just.
Speaker B:It's really wonderful casting up and down this movie.
Speaker B:And I was actually kind of looking at some of the other information on here.
Speaker B:I don't know, Sam, if you prepared any movie facts, like, we didn't really know.
Speaker A:I was gonna say, literally, I just bought like a newer edition of the Jaws log and I've.
Speaker A:I had an old copy that and.
Speaker A:Which I borrowed from a friend and never returned.
Speaker A:I feel.
Speaker A:Still feel terrible about that.
Speaker A:But I just, I've been reading it recently and literally it's fascinating.
Speaker A:Things I didn't even know, like, Charlton Heston really wanted Roy Scheider's role and the producers didn't want to go with him because he was in big blockbusters like Airport 75.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And then another movie.
Speaker A:And they thought that he was too large of a personality.
Speaker A:So they're like, what is gigantic star Charlton Heston want to do with a small seaside New England community?
Speaker A:But Carl Gotlib, actually, and I literally just read this like two days ago.
Speaker A:Peter Benchley wrote the first two drafts or three drafts of the screenplay.
Speaker A:Spielberg liked certain scenes, but they were worried, like, the characters weren't developed enough.
Speaker A:Carl Gottlieb was gonna act in it and he did.
Speaker A: screenwriter in late April of: Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:And while they were casting some actors in Boston, he was in like a next door suite with a typewriter furiously typing pages per Spielberg's like, instruction and oversight.
Speaker A:So Carl Gottlieb and Spielberg really are responsible for like putting more depth into the characters, improving the dialogue.
Speaker A:Like, I think they really just went at those drafts and fixed them and they had to start shooting as they were rewriting.
Speaker A:Like, it was terrifying because they had to film like they were out of time.
Speaker A:And like, the script wasn't even quite there yet.
Speaker A:So it was like right by the seat of their pants kind of thing.
Speaker A:Like, impressive.
Speaker B:And I think I read that they were up against a.
Speaker B: as happening in the summer of: Speaker B:And they had to do this in the spring of that year, otherwise they wouldn't be able to do it.
Speaker B:And this was like a race against time to get it done in the spring of 73, I believe.
Speaker B:So it was.
Speaker A:They shot in like, they were shooting in 74.
Speaker A:So they.
Speaker A:In this.
Speaker B:Was it 74.
Speaker B:Okay, maybe it was.
Speaker A:And then like, and so December 73, like, he met with Spielberg, met with Richard Zanuck and David Brown.
Speaker A:Martha's Vineyard, they were shooting spring of 74 and they scheduled all the beach filming scenes in like, early maybe.
Speaker A:What they didn't realize is the water is freezing.
Speaker A:Then.
Speaker A:And they had to push that back on the schedule at one point.
Speaker A:And I'm glad they didn't do this.
Speaker A:I thought this would have been ridiculous.
Speaker A:But they were going to have stuntmen in like scuba outfits but like painted like skin to go swimming as like background exits.
Speaker A:That's a terrible idea.
Speaker A:And so the schedule, they had to push it all around.
Speaker A:You'll you notice at the beginning of the movie, like there's a lot of.
Speaker A:It doesn't detract in any way, but there's a lot of like land dialogue scenes where if you look in the background, there's.
Speaker A:There's no leaves on the trees.
Speaker A:Like it's the 4th of July and they're shooting in like early May and it's still pretty cold.
Speaker A:Like everyone's in jackets.
Speaker A:It's cold.
Speaker B:Oh, everyone's.
Speaker B:Yeah, everyone is in.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:They're.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:It doesn't matter.
Speaker A:It's just like it's you.
Speaker A:If you look for it, it's there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:A couple other things I just noted here.
Speaker B:It's the.
Speaker B:Had a budget of 9 million originally.
Speaker B:It was supposed to be projected to be about 4 million.
Speaker B:And opening weekend made 7 million but grossed in its original run 260 million.
Speaker B:I think I saw here somewhere worldwide.
Speaker B:470.
Speaker B:And this is over the course of all its re releases or so.
Speaker B:But it's one of the most profitable films of all time.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, until Star Wars I think superseded.
Speaker A:Until Star wars they literally had a 55 day production schedule and it ballooned to 150 days like it was.
Speaker A:Spielberg describes literally waking up with panic attacks wondering if they were going to get a single shot that day.
Speaker A:Like that movie literally like made his career like it was a trial by fire movie.
Speaker A:Like in a kind of metaphorical way.
Speaker A:I feel like once he went through the hell of that, it made him like battle hardened and then turned him into like Steven Spielberg of today.
Speaker A:Like it was a trial by fire.
Speaker A:He was 27 years old.
Speaker A:It blows my mind.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:What have you done with your life, huh?
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:Oh my God.
Speaker A:Oh God.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:I made a YouTube skit called Attack of the Phone and I added some laser effects to it.
Speaker B:Woo.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Looking at some of the awards, it did get a couple Best film editing.
Speaker B:It won best original score, which rightfully so.
Speaker B:And best sound.
Speaker B:And it got nominated for best picture.
Speaker B:Did not win a lost out to One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Speaker B:And also nominated was Barry Lyndon.
Speaker B:Dog Day Afternoon in Nashville.
Speaker B:That was a tough competition.
Speaker B:That year.
Speaker B:But Spielberg did not get nominated.
Speaker B:I think there's a famous video, you can actually see it on YouTube, where he's filming himself waiting for the call that he got nominated.
Speaker A:I've seen that.
Speaker A:And it's like, I feel so much empathy for him because he's sitting there and he's like, what do we get nominated for?
Speaker A:And one of them was Best Screenplay.
Speaker A:He's like, best Screenplay.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:And then he's like, this is what they call.
Speaker A:I forget the phrase.
Speaker A:But he.
Speaker A:There's a quote, and he says something like, everybody likes a winner, but nobody likes a winner.
Speaker B:But you know what?
Speaker B:It was tough competition that year because Kubrick got nominated.
Speaker B:Sidney Lumet got nominated.
Speaker B:Robert Altman got nominated.
Speaker B:Fellini got nominated.
Speaker B:Milos Foreman got nominated and won one for Cuckoo's Nest.
Speaker B:So, oh, Spielberg should have gotten on me.
Speaker A:He should have.
Speaker A:And also at that time, he was like, the new kid on the block, like, young hotshot guy.
Speaker A:These are, like, established directors that were, like, had been around.
Speaker B:These are legends in the industry, all these guys.
Speaker B:Yeah, he got his later.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I was looking at this, though.
Speaker B:Like, no.
Speaker B:No acting nominations.
Speaker B:And I'm not that surprised, but I would say Robert Shaw should have got a nomination.
Speaker A:He was great.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:In this.
Speaker B:So that's the only thing I probably could have.
Speaker B:I think, should have got an acting nomination.
Speaker B:But whatever.
Speaker A:I don't remember.
Speaker A:I can't remember the name of the director.
Speaker A:Like, I think they kept this guy's name out, out of, like, to hide his embarrassment.
Speaker A:But there was some other die Hard, like, action director or a director that they were, like, trusting the two producers to do the movie.
Speaker A:But when they kept interviewing this director, like, at a dinner with him, he kept referring to the shark as a whale.
Speaker A:He was like, the whale does this and the whale does that.
Speaker A:And, like, Richard Zanuck was like, no, it's a shark.
Speaker A:It's a shark.
Speaker A:And so at the end of that, like, lunch meeting, they were like, nah, not this guy.
Speaker B:Well, let's talk about the film a little bit here.
Speaker B:If anyone spoilers for Jaws, we'll put that out there right now.
Speaker B:It's about shark.
Speaker B:You know this.
Speaker B:I watched this again, probably for, like, the.
Speaker B:I don't know, 40th time this past week.
Speaker B:I always still find things that surprise me.
Speaker B:When you watch a movie that many times, you start to, like, almost not follow the main plot line, and you start to look at, like, what are the background actors doing?
Speaker B:What is all these other things happening and which is Fascinating, because I know this movie backwards and forwards now, but it's wonderful catching all the little nuances.
Speaker B:And actually, later on I'm going to mention something that a little interaction I never picked up before, but I just.
Speaker B:It was such a great character moment that I discovered, which was amazing.
Speaker B:But first thing, I just want to talk about, like, the cinematography in this film at.
Speaker B:It's just incredible.
Speaker B:And I don't think people, like, go to that initially.
Speaker B:I think they think about the story, the.
Speaker B:The horror of this and some of the shock value of this and maybe in probably some of the acting.
Speaker B:But the.
Speaker B:This is just shot so incredibly well.
Speaker B:And I think it even starts in the very beginning.
Speaker B:The way that they staged this opening death scene where it was at Chrissy.
Speaker B:What's.
Speaker B:What's the girl's name?
Speaker A:Oh, Chrissy Watkins.
Speaker B:Yeah, Chrissy Watkins.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:The way this is staged in that opening is incredible.
Speaker B:I mean, I noticed something, though, that I don't think I ever caught before.
Speaker B:There's this visual continuity in the beach scenes that is just out of all.
Speaker B:Out of sequence and doesn't really make any sense.
Speaker B:Sometimes the sun is setting, like, over.
Speaker B:Over the ocean horizon.
Speaker B:Then it's setting like.
Speaker B:Or I don't know if it's sunrise or sunset.
Speaker B:I'm not too sure, but it's.
Speaker B:Then it's like over the beach the other way.
Speaker B:And sometimes the sky is like completely, like, cast over.
Speaker B:And then like, there's this beautiful golden, like, sun behind a cloud.
Speaker B:It's all gorgeous, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker B:But I never really noticed, like, the.
Speaker B:How the continuity in all this is, like, all out of whack, but screw.
Speaker B:I mean, I don't think nobody.
Speaker B:Anybody really notices this.
Speaker A:I totally hear that.
Speaker A:Like, it's a little discombobulated, but I think it's because if they were just trying to find a way to have a little bit of light so you can see what's going on.
Speaker A:So it's like when they're on the beach, it's like the dead of night when they're running by the fence.
Speaker A:It's like gray twilight.
Speaker A:When the drunk guy falls down, he's like, take it easy, take it.
Speaker A:It's like sunset or sunrise in the background.
Speaker A:It just kind of like trickery to make it visible.
Speaker A:I think they chose that as opposed to doing straight up, like, day for night, which would kind of flatten it.
Speaker A:They kind of messed around with it, like.
Speaker B:Yeah, totally.
Speaker B:Every shot is gorgeous.
Speaker B:I don't think it's even that noticeable.
Speaker B:But it's just like everything's beautiful.
Speaker B:But it's funny that they just use what they could to get the best looking shots.
Speaker B:It didn't matter if.
Speaker B:If they probably shot this over three or four different days or nights.
Speaker B:They just.
Speaker B:Great looking coverage and footage of all of this.
Speaker A:It's so atmospheric.
Speaker A:It just sets the tone.
Speaker A:And when she gets like brutally eaten, that just sets a.
Speaker A:That feels so terrifyingly realistic.
Speaker A:What I love about that scene is it doesn't feel like there's a lot of.
Speaker A:There's like 70 slasher flicks where the murders are not campy.
Speaker A:But when she dies, there's something about it where it sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
Speaker A:And you watch her drowning and you picture what's going on underneath her and it's really.
Speaker A:Every single time it's unsettling to me.
Speaker A:And I've seen the movie a million times and you just feel like you're watching someone die right in front of you and it's like, oh my God.
Speaker A:Sets the tone.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I also con contrasting that.
Speaker B:But also setting the tone is how we are introduced to Amity Island.
Speaker B:And I love this.
Speaker B:I mean we are both from New England and you've been to Martha's Vineyard where this was shot many times.
Speaker B:I almost think of you as like this being maybe your second or third home.
Speaker B:You're there so much, you know.
Speaker B:But I love in the very beginning at an Amity say Yod.
Speaker B:And it's just a humorous bit of regional flavor that just sets the location and the tone for this.
Speaker B:And then you got that billboard.
Speaker B:Mini island welcomes you 50th annual regatta July 4th.
Speaker B:So you set this location a time of the year and you know, kind of adds like this little tension.
Speaker B:We know something deadly lurks beneath the surface.
Speaker B:And even as this town is preparing for the celebration.
Speaker B:So I, I just love this.
Speaker B:It was funny.
Speaker B:I was re watching one of the documentaries.
Speaker B:They had to construct that whole sign, shoot all that and then take it down all in one day.
Speaker B:That was because Martha's Vineyard is very strict with the rules about filming there.
Speaker B:This is the first film that ever had any film, any major film production coming through there.
Speaker B:I don't know how many others have shot.
Speaker B:I know Nantucket has had a lot more productions out there.
Speaker B:I don't know about Martha's Vineyard though.
Speaker A:Martha's Vineyard is really strict.
Speaker A:Even Quint's house, like when they go there to Quint's place before they go off.
Speaker B:That was constructed, right?
Speaker A:It was Constructed, but it was right on the border, I think between Mana and Chill Mark.
Speaker A:And there were all these like laws and they were not getting permission to build it.
Speaker A:And there was going to be a board of review in four months time.
Speaker A:So what they did was they built it and they filmed all the scenes before the board of review occurred.
Speaker A:And then they took it down and we're like, what are you talking about?
Speaker A:We didn't build anything.
Speaker A:We're done.
Speaker A:Like, like they had so much.
Speaker A:And not only that, but there were islanders that like were lending them boats and doing transportation.
Speaker A:But then they realized how small their pay was compared to the filmmakers pay, so they boycotted.
Speaker A:But what they didn't realize is that the filmmakers were getting paid more.
Speaker A:Because in Hollywood productions you're not working all the time.
Speaker A:So when you have a movie it's.
Speaker A:You tend to get paid more.
Speaker A:So there was a whole scale thing.
Speaker A:So the business negotiations, which I knew nothing about, literally only reading it in the Jaws log, I was like, oh my God, they had some logistical nightmares on that island.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:What else?
Speaker B:I mean this movie also, when I think about it, is just so great at just setting the tone, setting the scene for like another example is like we talked about the background characters getting.
Speaker B:Not just getting to know the main ones, but like all the background extras and all the little scenes in the shops and Brody walking around town interacting with them.
Speaker B:These are these little minor characters that they feel like they're so lived in.
Speaker B:And there's.
Speaker B:I know several years before, several years before this, Robert Altman made the whole thing about cross dialogue very famous, even kind of controversial with like MASH and things like that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But I love what Spielberg does in this movie because I like Altman.
Speaker B:But it also is kind of.
Speaker B:Sometimes it's a lot to take in and difficult to enjoy when you've got six conversations all crossing over one another.
Speaker B:But somehow Spielberg was able to take that kind of idea and refine it in this film.
Speaker B:And I love all of these.
Speaker B:The, the like what were what I'm trying to say.
Speaker B:The select.
Speaker B:Like when the select board or when all these people are getting together, having these town meetings and stuff like that and all this crazy cross, cross chatter.
Speaker B:But you actually can pick out these conversations.
Speaker B:It's not just a big jumbled mess.
Speaker B:And I think he does a fantastic job with the writing of this and the dialogue and the way it's sound mixed as well.
Speaker B:And all these characters, you really know what their motivations are.
Speaker B:Their woman's like concerned about like, are you going to close the beaches?
Speaker B:And everyone's interested in these in their business.
Speaker B:And it really paints a really detailed picture of this community and their concerns.
Speaker B:And I really just love how well it's fleshed out.
Speaker B:All of these minor characters and you only sometimes see them for like a moment.
Speaker B:The guy that, you know, that Brody says, that's a bad hat, Harry.
Speaker B:I forgot that we see him at least one or two of the times before that.
Speaker B:Like, it rewards you on multiple viewings, seeing all these side characters, little characters that keep popping up.
Speaker A:There's such a naturalism to it too.
Speaker A:When you watch all these characters in the overlapping dialogue, I feel like I'm watching real life unfold on the island.
Speaker A:When there's family scenes, it doesn't feel stagy, it just it all.
Speaker A:The wonderful thing about Spielberg's direction is of course it's directed and of course it's blocked, but the manner in which it unfolds, you feel as if you're witnessing real life on this island and somehow through this invisible camera, you just happen to see what's actually taking place.
Speaker A:And one thing that I thought was awesome, that I was literally reading in the Jaws log was early on, before they were shooting or anything, when Spielberg was talking to Richard Zanuck and David Brown, his specific M.O.
Speaker A:about the directing, he said, he demanded it.
Speaker A:He said, in this movie we have to be able to see the shark, the three actors, and the ocean and the horizon all in the same shot, as opposed to cutting to a close up of a shark and then cutting a close up of a face.
Speaker A:And I realized, oh my God, that style of directing is what Steven Spielberg does in all his films to different degrees.
Speaker A:But one of the things that feels so amazing about Jaws, that makes it feel so real, there's no moments that feel stagey or they have those kind of cliche horror buildups that you're literally watching shots where the shark will just pop into and you're not expecting it to be there.
Speaker A:You'll see it in the background or your eye will be drawn to one place.
Speaker A:But it's because it's so immersive like that that there's so much going on in a single angle that just sets a whole atmosphere and feel for the whole film.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And I think spot on, Sam.
Speaker B:And there's so much of that and he uses so many amazing techniques as well.
Speaker B:I think it's on full display a little bit late in at the beach scene, the first one of the first beach scenes where you Get a lot more of these character interactions.
Speaker B:You get those, like, split diopter shots.
Speaker B:And of course, this is the scene with the Alex Kintner death as.
Speaker B:As well, which we should talk about for a moment.
Speaker B:But you got that amazing.
Speaker B:Like, Zolli or Doom.
Speaker B:Zolli, dolly zoom shot, all these trickery.
Speaker B:And even before that, you.
Speaker B:It's so well staged because you've got Brody, who's, like.
Speaker B:He's already on edge.
Speaker B:He's skating the beach, and you feel the anxiety peeking at.
Speaker B:People are passing by.
Speaker B:And you've got so much visual tension mounting here.
Speaker B:And what Spielberg has done, he.
Speaker B:I was reading that he really wanted this whole thing to be a single take, which would have been great.
Speaker B:That would have been.
Speaker B:But how he.
Speaker B:But he.
Speaker B:In a way, he kind of does it because he uses, like, people passing by.
Speaker B:They see, like, these bathing suits passing in front of Roy Scheider.
Speaker B:And by using that, it's like these wipes that then you punch in on his face more and more.
Speaker B:And these are cuts, but it creates this tension focusing in on his eyes, and it just raises the anxiety that we see in him.
Speaker B:But also prior to that, we're introduced to these characters and you just realize this tension, it just keeps mounting throughout the whole thing.
Speaker B:But let's talk about Alex's death, because this is a.
Speaker B:I think it's just a technical marvel as well.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, this attack, it's, like, graphic and it's chaotic.
Speaker B:What I love about this, I don't mean to hijack all this, but, like, I would just love, kind of, like, how avant garde this is as well, because you see the blood spraying, and we get just a subtle glimpse of the shark, but it's so fragmented.
Speaker B:And the horror comes from not really understanding what's going on.
Speaker B:Him get taken under, but you see, like, the shark kind of roll over him a little bit and.
Speaker B:But the real horror is in everyone's reaction, who.
Speaker B:And everyone has kind of a different reaction.
Speaker B:And nobody really fully understands what.
Speaker B:What just happened.
Speaker B:And it's just such a great piece of visual storytelling.
Speaker A:It's incredible.
Speaker A:And also, like, that whole scene with his death, what you were talking about with the wipes, it puts you inside Brody's headspace because he's sitting there and he's so nervous and uptight because he knows there's a shark and he knows no one else.
Speaker A:Everyone else is oblivious.
Speaker A:And so the guy comes up and starts talking to him and is like, hey, I need you to check this zoning issue.
Speaker A:And then the girl in the background is like, and it's her boyfriend coming up beneath her, or someone is swimming beneath someone else.
Speaker A:And so when Alex Kittner does die and you see the shark roll over and it cuts to reaction shots and you see him dragged down with like a fountain of blood spurting up, Roy Scheider's worst fears are consumed.
Speaker A:And that's when it's like the zoom in and the pullback shot on Roy Schider's face and everyone is confused again.
Speaker A:It has that real world point of view feeling.
Speaker A:Because if it was in the hands of a different director, not necessarily a bad director, the Alex Kittner's death would have been more on the nose or there would have been this kind of hyped up sort of money shot.
Speaker A:But when you see the shark roll over, your view is kind of blocked.
Speaker A:So you know something happened, but you can't quite see it.
Speaker A:And you're like, wait a minute, oh my God, did that just happen?
Speaker A:And it makes it realistic and worse and more intense because if an attack like that happened on a beach in real life, there would be confusion.
Speaker A:You, you would be like, did I just see that?
Speaker A:Like it's got that real life feeling of like, oh my God, what's going on here?
Speaker B:Yeah, oh, absolutely.
Speaker B:It's a wonderfully shot.
Speaker B:It's one of my favorite scenes in the movie.
Speaker A:Yeah, I love that scene.
Speaker A:And like you, I've watched this movie a million times.
Speaker A:And one thing I notice in general that it does really well thematically is you have two worlds in this movie.
Speaker A:You have the human world on the island and they're all focused on modern human things like the economy and summer dollars and bureaucratic issues.
Speaker A:But they're on an island surrounded by the ocean and the ocean is the ancient world.
Speaker A:And there's many shots at the beginning when like, if you see Roy Scheider, you see Chrissy Watkins hand in the sand, Roy Scheider kind of just turns behind him and just looks out at the ocean.
Speaker A:And the movie really gives you a sense that almost like not, I mean this is like a metaphor, but like it's like a.
Speaker A:In puritan times or way in the past, if there's a little Walden village in the middle of this like ancient forest, there's mystery out there.
Speaker A:And they're on the shore of another world.
Speaker A:And the movie really leans into that.
Speaker A:And that's why I like it when they do go out after the shark.
Speaker A:Finally they're going into the sharks ancient world.
Speaker A:And that's when you hear whale noises and you see shooting stars and you.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:We're going into.
Speaker A:There's this underlying, like, mythology.
Speaker A:Mythology might not be the right world, but, like, the human world is new and the shark world is ancient.
Speaker A:And this movie is about the two worlds colliding as a shark literally feeds on humans.
Speaker A:So it has, it operates on that deeper level really well.
Speaker A:Like, and especially if you see it in the movie theater again, when the, when this thing is on a big screen, that sense of the mysteries of the ocean is, like, expanded.
Speaker A:It's just, it's really amazing.
Speaker B:Well said, Sam.
Speaker B:Yes, we take one moment here.
Speaker B:I, I'm gonna play a clip, take a break and we'll come back and talk some more.
Speaker B:I love this little thing here.
Speaker B:I, I saved this conversation with Brody and the mayor.
Speaker A:And a pen, Larry.
Speaker B:Yeah, pen.
Speaker A:You know, because you're to do what you do best.
Speaker A:We're going to sign this voucher so I can hire a contractor.
Speaker A:I, I don't, I don't know if I can do that without.
Speaker B:I'm going to hire Quinn to kill the shark.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What.
Speaker A:What are you talking about?
Speaker A:Larry, the summer is over.
Speaker A:You're the mayor of Shark City.
Speaker A:These people think you want the beaches open.
Speaker B:I love the mayor so much.
Speaker B:And he is like just a people bureaucratic tool.
Speaker A:Oh, he's great.
Speaker B:Yeah, he is great.
Speaker B:And his.
Speaker B:He's got some of the best quotes here for.
Speaker B:Of course, you brought it up in the very beginning.
Speaker B:This one.
Speaker A:I'm pleased and happy to repeat the news that we have in fact caught and killed a large predator that supposedly injured some bathers.
Speaker A:But as you see, it's a beautiful day.
Speaker A:The beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time.
Speaker A:Amity, as you know, means French ship.
Speaker A:Literally.
Speaker A:When he, when, when he arrived on the island to play Mayor Vaugh, his first few nights, he went out and this story has so many iterations, like it's told over and over again and written.
Speaker A:So I'm.
Speaker A:It's probably not entirely accurate, but he had several drinks and before shooting, he's on his way, walking back to his hotel room, and he sees what he thinks is a cat.
Speaker A:So he goes down to pet it.
Speaker A:It's a skunk.
Speaker A:He gets sprayed.
Speaker A:And on his first day of filming, he stinks.
Speaker A:Like, he just smells to high heaven.
Speaker A:And everyone is like, oh, God, like, holding their nose, doing scenes with him.
Speaker A:So unfortunately, it was not a cat.
Speaker B:So what else we haven't talked about?
Speaker B:Some of the other characters show up here.
Speaker B:So Richard Dreyfus Hooper arrived here.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:He is so good in this.
Speaker B:And he's got.
Speaker B:I like how everybody is so good at counterbalancing the other characters in this.
Speaker B:The trifecta of Hooper, Quint and Brody is just so balanced in this.
Speaker B:So he kind of, like, punctures, like, the town's denial in this.
Speaker B:And I love his humor and contrast and.
Speaker B:Because Brody is very reserved and.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:So I just love.
Speaker B:He's the one that's already coming in there saying, this is not a boating accident.
Speaker B:He knows what's going on.
Speaker B:By the way, Ben Gardner.
Speaker B:I just want to mention one thing.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:For the longest time, I was so confused.
Speaker B:Ben Gardner and Quint, I think when I was a young kid, I thought they were the same actor, the same character.
Speaker A:I can see that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I can understand that.
Speaker B:Ben Gardner was a local.
Speaker B:I didn't realize this until recently.
Speaker B:He's not an actor.
Speaker B:And I saw an interview with Steven Spielberg.
Speaker B:If he couldn't get Robert Shaw.
Speaker B:Ben Gardner was on the second tier of list of actors that could have been cast to play Quint, although I don't think he would have done nearly as well.
Speaker B:But he's not a true actor.
Speaker B:But he was.
Speaker B:He was authentic.
Speaker B:He was the real deal.
Speaker A:That's cool.
Speaker A:He definitely had the look.
Speaker A:It's just when it comes to Robert Shaw, who had that gravitas, especially with some of his dialogue, it's funny.
Speaker A:I will say, there's so many incredible shots in this movie.
Speaker A:I will mention a shot that I think is my least favorite shot in the movie that I find cheesy.
Speaker A:It's not that bad because, like, the movie is, like, 100%.
Speaker A:So it's like I struggle to find it, but I think it's Ben Gardner and another guy, and they're on a dock and they put the hook into the roast and they throw it out into the ocean.
Speaker A:This is when the shark rips off.
Speaker B:The Garden's not one of those two kids.
Speaker A:Oh, that's right.
Speaker A:He's not one of those two.
Speaker A:I confused that.
Speaker A:So the two guys in the dock, I love that whole sequence.
Speaker A:There is one shot, just one, where you see the chain flying away into the water.
Speaker A:And the camera zooms in on the one guy who's whistling and he stops whistling and he looks at the chain being pulled into the water and he's like, what?
Speaker A:And it's just the cheesiest reaction.
Speaker A:There's like a kind of a.
Speaker A:A zoom there that I don't like.
Speaker A:This shot, I'm talking About a four second shot.
Speaker A:But like trying to analyze it, I'm like, that is the one shot in the movie.
Speaker A:I just think because the guy's like, duh, what's going on here?
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker B:I don't recall exactly.
Speaker B:But speaking of that scene, the.
Speaker B:There is one of the greatest moments of the movie, I think takes place when that pier is ripped off and going out to sea and one of those two characters falls into the water.
Speaker B:And it's almost like Hitchcockian how that Pierce slowly turns around and comes back.
Speaker B:You don't see the shark, but your imagination seeing that and that suspense of building, you don't know, you assume that guy's not gonna make it.
Speaker B:And I think even though I've saw this movie several times growing up, I kept thinking that guy does not make it, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, that whole scene is incredible like that.
Speaker A:That I'm just being nitpicky with that one shot.
Speaker A:It's just a zoom in on the guy's face when he stops whistling.
Speaker A:But when the doc turns around, it is so suspenseful.
Speaker A:And that to me is scarier than seeing an actual underwater because your imagination.
Speaker A:And this will sound like sacrilegious to like some like film students and lovers of film, but there is a lot of Hitchcockian suspense in this movie and in this movie and music and in this movie in particular.
Speaker A:In particular, I actually feel that Spielberg bests Hitchcock in this one particular film, Jaws, because I love Hitchcock.
Speaker A:I love a lot of his films, but his characters are colder and the dialog can be a little bit stiffer.
Speaker A:Spielberg has incredible Hitchcockian suspense with, mixed with human empathy and the warmth of, of these characters that you care about.
Speaker A:And the blending of that makes for just an incredible movie experience.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And I think that kind of segues into another scene that I want to mention, which is a very memorable scene.
Speaker B:And that is when we skipped through a few things here.
Speaker B:But I love.
Speaker B:It's a very quiet moment, very quiet scene back at Brody's house where he.
Speaker B:It's a dinner scene and it's actually proceeded with a really nice moment with his son where he's doing the whole thing with the hands.
Speaker B:And I love that.
Speaker B:And he's got a really cool, you know, moment where I, you know, give your dad a kiss or something like that because I need it.
Speaker B:Because he really felt like he did need.
Speaker B:I needed it at that moment too.
Speaker A:Oh yeah.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But this dinner table scene I just love.
Speaker B:Hooper comes in with a lot of energy and he's dressed up, which is kind of Funny.
Speaker B:And I just, I just really think it's.
Speaker B:There's a.
Speaker B:Actually this is one of the two moments that, that I laughed out loud with this line delivery that I never really picked up before.
Speaker B:And it's when Hooper is talking to.
Speaker B:I think, oh yeah, he's talking to Ellen.
Speaker B:And Brody's not really sick.
Speaker B:He's really quiet and he's just opening the wine, pours like a gigantic glass.
Speaker B:And this is what I always find funny, is that I actually captured this dialogue and this cracked me up.
Speaker A:They caught a shark.
Speaker A:Not the shark.
Speaker A:Not the shark that killed Chrissy Watkins and probably not the shark that killed the little boy, which I wanted to prove today by cutting the shark open.
Speaker A:But you, you know, you want to let that breathe for nothing.
Speaker A:Nothing.
Speaker B:And I know it's so simple, but like it's those little moments that there's so much humor in this and I feel like that probably was not in the script.
Speaker B:Like you want to let that breathe a little bit.
Speaker B:Oh, nothing, nothing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But it's those little character moments that I don't think I ever really laughed at that scene before, that piece of dog before I like rolled over in my chair watching it that time.
Speaker B:Because of course Hooper would be like pause his story to like, you know, this, you gotta let that breathe.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:The wine is important.
Speaker A:So that scene is hysterical.
Speaker A:I also love it when Hooper is like, is anyone eating this?
Speaker A:And he just like takes, takes the food.
Speaker A:Like he basically invites himself and he's like, I didn't know red or white.
Speaker A:I didn't know what you guys would be serving.
Speaker A:And like when I was younger, like I loved and enjoyed the scene.
Speaker A:But as an adult watching it now, you realize just how like drunker and drunker Brody gets for the course of the night.
Speaker A:Like first he pours this big tall glass and then when it cuts to him on the boat, he's like, I'm telling you, the crime rate in New York will kill you.
Speaker A:Rip offs muggings.
Speaker A:But an amity, one man can make a difference.
Speaker A:And you're like, oh my God, I never noticed before that he is literally like three sheets to the wind in this scene.
Speaker B:He ends it up with, I can do anything on the chief of police.
Speaker A:But there's a subtle, like there are tons of those.
Speaker A:There's even a little moment like jumping around for a sec.
Speaker A:But when they're in Quint's shack, Quint like makes his own drink and Brody has it and he's like, this is awful.
Speaker A:And it's so subtle and it's so quick you barely catch it.
Speaker A:But he hands it to.
Speaker A:He's like, don't drink that Richard Dreyfus grab.
Speaker A:He's like, don't drink that.
Speaker A:He's like, it's like, it's awful.
Speaker B:You brought something up that I actually didn't catch that I've.
Speaker B:I caught before.
Speaker B:But what I want to say is also about the acting.
Speaker B:We could jump ahead to the acting performance of Robert Shaw, but this is something I never caught before.
Speaker B:And I love this so much.
Speaker B:And it is that moment.
Speaker B:I have a note on this here because it is.
Speaker B:It's really about the overall, like, what I want to call is, like, face acting, which is maybe like a really simple way of putting this, but it's the subtext in a lot of the performances here.
Speaker B:Quint, when, like you said, when Quint offers Brody that homemade drink, I don't know if it's moonshine or.
Speaker B:It probably is like something like that or ethanol.
Speaker B:Who knows what it is?
Speaker A:Right, Right.
Speaker B:Like you said, he sips it in.
Speaker B:But Quint.
Speaker B:What I never really picked up before is Quint's reaction to when Brody drinks it.
Speaker B:And Quint sees through the whole thing.
Speaker B:His smile fades.
Speaker B:And it's not about the drink.
Speaker B:It's kind of like a test of Brody's spirit.
Speaker B:And Quint is silently judging Brody.
Speaker B:And when he sees that he doesn't like it, he has no worries.
Speaker B:But he does this brilliant.
Speaker B:Like, we see his, like, smile kind of like fade and he, like, this is not.
Speaker B:He's not seaworthy or he's not one of.
Speaker B:And if you watch that scene and it's a little hard to see because it's kind of like soft focus, I think, when Quinn's back there.
Speaker B:But it's an amazing moment when where, like, he drinks it, he's like, yeah, okay.
Speaker B:And it's such a beautiful character moment from Robert Shaw that I love.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I hear.
Speaker A:I love those character moments.
Speaker A:And like you were saying earlier, there's so such a good, gritty, like, lived in feel to this movie.
Speaker A:Like, I am.
Speaker A:I enjoy Jurassic Park.
Speaker A:Jurassic park to me is shinier.
Speaker A:It's more like clean and it has a different feel.
Speaker A:Feel this movie.
Speaker A:There's like.
Speaker A:It feels like there's dirt and dust and it's like Bill Butler cinematography.
Speaker A:Everything is so rich.
Speaker A:You just reminded me of that when you said that was sort of that soft focus shot on Quint.
Speaker A:But it's.
Speaker A:There's such a lived in, gritty feel to this, that, like, Quint's house.
Speaker A:When you're there, even though the place, like, was built and destroyed really quick, you feel like he's been living there for, like, 10 years on that island.
Speaker A:Just in a brief scene.
Speaker A:It's amazing.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:I actually wrote notes on when they hire Quint, what Quint's demands were.
Speaker B:Do you ever, like.
Speaker B:Like, write these out and make note of what they are?
Speaker B:He's getting, what, $10,000 plus expenses, including $200 a day, case of apricot brandy, champagne, pate for gras, Iranian caviar, and a color tv.
Speaker A:I love the color tv.
Speaker A:It's like, oh, a color tv.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Between the three of them, there's like, testosterone on the boat, but there's also a little bit of, like, an undercurrent of, like, class warfare, because it's like, Richard Dreyfus, young, rich kid, rich family.
Speaker A:And like, Robert Shaw is resentful, and he's like a working class fisherman.
Speaker A:And he respects Chief Brody because Brody is like a chief and a cop, and he's nicer to him and.
Speaker A:And him and Richard Dreyfus don't get along.
Speaker A:But in real life, too, they were very competitive.
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Like in real life, like, they were at each other's, not at each other's throats.
Speaker A:But I.
Speaker A:From what the sense that I get is Richard Dreyfus was a lot nicer.
Speaker A:Robert Shaw was definitely drinking too much, and he would be like, hey, Richard, why don't you go, like, climb to the top of the mast?
Speaker A:Like, I dare you to do that.
Speaker A:So that competition, yeah, kind of bled off the screen a little bit.
Speaker A:Not quite competition, but just like, they.
Speaker A:They butted heads a lot.
Speaker A:And Roy Scheider was kind of quieter, famously, I think there was one scene where they were trying to film something, and Roy Scheider took Robert Shaw's like, bottle or liquor or glass out of his hand and threw it into the ocean.
Speaker A:And all the crew was like.
Speaker A:Because they were worried it.
Speaker A:He was going to be really mad.
Speaker B:Y.
Speaker B:What else?
Speaker B:Let's get into the boat.
Speaker B:You know, orca that sets sail again.
Speaker B:One of the greatest shots film history.
Speaker B:That orca pulling out of the harbor, looking through the shark's mouth.
Speaker B:And I love that music also.
Speaker B:It's actually kind of like Williams.
Speaker B:Part of the score was really uplifting, I remember.
Speaker B:Yes, I love.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker A:I also love how, like, another movie, them going out to catch the shark would be like the last 20 minutes.
Speaker A:And technically it's the beginning of the third act.
Speaker A:But it's like the whole second half of the film is a different movie on that boat.
Speaker A:And that's why I like it because you have all these.
Speaker A:All the characters, dizzying amounts of characters on the island.
Speaker A:You almost feel like the movie could continue to go in that direction where they're trying to cover it up.
Speaker A:And then reporters are coming in and the shark maybe kills someone else, but instead the three of them go out on the boat and the movie becomes this, like, old man on the sea adventure.
Speaker A:And structurally, I love that.
Speaker A:Just the way this movie flows and how it's almost split down the middle between the populated first half and the three of them on the open ocean for like the last 45 minutes of the movie.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Like, that's when I saw it.
Speaker A:I saw it as a little kid, then I forgot about it when I saw it again when I was 13.
Speaker A:It was that whole second half where I was just like, this movie is incredible.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And actually it is pretty much bisected in half, but each half has its own three act structure also.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Which is pretty cool.
Speaker B:So it's almost like a six act movie.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:Yeah, it is.
Speaker B:Yes, it's.
Speaker B:It is unusual in a structuring.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker A:No, I was just gonna say I'm just amazed with the difficulty of the production and the writing and rewriting of the script while they were shooting.
Speaker A:It's amazing how well this movie turned out.
Speaker A:Sometimes when there's production disasters, you can feel some of that anguish on the screen.
Speaker A:Totally different movie has nothing to do with this.
Speaker A:Big fan of David fincher.
Speaker A:I find Alien 3 atmospheric and fascinating.
Speaker A:I enjoyed the movie, but when you watch it, you can feel the tough making of it and disjointed scenes.
Speaker A:Jaws worked out so well that the difficult making of it is so legendary because it turned out so amazingly.
Speaker A:When you hear about what went into making that movie and what it was like shooting it, it's a wonder they left the island with any footage.
Speaker A:They would.
Speaker A:They weren't even aware of tides.
Speaker A:They would set up shots, the boat would drift and like, sailboats would go by and they'd have to start over like it was a nightmare.
Speaker A:Y.
Speaker B:All right, one more clip.
Speaker B:Take a quick break, then we'll wrap up our discussion in the.
Speaker B:For Jaws, you go inside the cage.
Speaker A:Cage goes in the water.
Speaker A:You go in the water.
Speaker A:Sharks in the water.
Speaker A:Our shark.
Speaker A:Farewell and to you, fair Spanish ladies, farewell and ado, you ladies of Spain.
Speaker A:For we've received orders for the sail back to Boston and soon evermore.
Speaker A:Shall we see you again.
Speaker B:The best part about that is, is Hooper who's smiling and I think, punch him in the face.
Speaker A:He's smiling.
Speaker A:He's like, this guy, man.
Speaker A:This freaking guy is too much.
Speaker A:I honestly, I think my favorite shot in the whole movie.
Speaker A:And I wanted to give a shout out to our mutual friend John Trafton.
Speaker A:He has a podcast.
Speaker A:This movie saved my life.
Speaker A:They did great podcast.
Speaker A:Did a Jaws review.
Speaker A:I have a little self interest because I had a little cameo appearance on it.
Speaker A:But his favorite shot as well as mine, it's only a five second shot.
Speaker A:It is Quint against the.
Speaker A:Silhouetted against the sunset on the orca.
Speaker A:And like Brody is like.
Speaker A:But we should radio in and we should go back.
Speaker A:And the scene just abandons him and cross dissolves and it's just him black against the sunset.
Speaker A:It's not even this like wide, spectacular money shot.
Speaker A:It just sets such a mood.
Speaker A:I was hypnotized by that shot as a kid.
Speaker A:And that's one of my favorite favorite shots.
Speaker A:It just.
Speaker A:There's something about it.
Speaker A:I interpreted it as.
Speaker A:And this is just me.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously this is not the meaning of the shot at all.
Speaker A:But for me watching it when I was younger, when I was 13 and I saw Quint against the twilight sky, it seemed to be like a portent of things to come.
Speaker A:And I got this feeling of like, this is the beginning of Spielberg's career and there's amazing things out there on the horizon.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That shot just gives me this feeling which still to this day, it gives me the chills.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:It's like five seconds long, but I love it.
Speaker B:I like that.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:What else happens on this boat that we can talk about?
Speaker B:There's the.
Speaker B:There's a lot of.
Speaker B:Just so many great moments in here.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I love the beer can.
Speaker B:Plastic cup.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Moment that was written.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker A:Carl Gotle wrote that.
Speaker A:And like he was.
Speaker A:They were trying to entice Richard Dreyfus because they.
Speaker A:He came to Boston and he just done this movie called like the Apprenticeship of Diddy Kravitz, which he did not like.
Speaker A:And Carl Gotlib in the Jaws log says, apparently it's kind of a poorly made film, but well acted.
Speaker A:I've never seen it.
Speaker A:Richard Dreyfus said he'd like the script, but like he wanted to watch the movie rather than be in it.
Speaker A:And they were trying to entice him.
Speaker A:And Spielberg literally said, I don't want to make a film I want to make a movie.
Speaker A:And Jaws is really a great.
Speaker A:Jaws is a movie movie.
Speaker A:It's a movie, movie, movie.
Speaker B:I remember watching that interview with Richard Dreyfuss where he said that same thing.
Speaker B:This is a film he wants to watch, not be in.
Speaker B:And then he was.
Speaker B:I think the movie came out that he was in previous.
Speaker B:That the previous movie was in.
Speaker B:And he said that he saw his face and really big on the screen, and he's like, oh, my God, I'm terrible.
Speaker B:And he's like, oh, my God, I gotta take whatever movie I can get next.
Speaker B:So he called up Steven Spielberg, like, I'll take it.
Speaker B:I'll take it.
Speaker B:Whatever it is, I'll take it.
Speaker B:And he's in Jaws.
Speaker A:So, yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker B:And I love how career.
Speaker A:He's like, oh, my God, I gotta do something quick before they find out how terrible this is.
Speaker A:But, like, I love how Spielberg is so focused on entertaining the audience because, like, everything on the boat starts out suspensefully, but once he's got you locked in and you're buying the concept and you're just on board for Jaws, the climax gets larger than life.
Speaker A:I mean, the shark goes under the boat.
Speaker A:It's dragging the boat.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:The boat is sinking, and the three barrels are chasing them into shore.
Speaker A:As Quint, I also like how cleverly they invent problems to get the situation worse for them.
Speaker A:So Quint destroys the radio, this baseball bat, which obviously could have saved them.
Speaker A:And then Quint, because of his ego, pushes the ship too hard.
Speaker A:So Quint, in a sense, creates problems for the suspense to get worse.
Speaker A:And so when he has this horrific death, there's kind of this poetic justice of like, oh, my God, he survived the Indianapolis only to get eaten by Jaws in the end.
Speaker A:It's like a vicious circle.
Speaker A:It's his character arc.
Speaker A:Like he.
Speaker A:He went down with the beast.
Speaker A:Like Ahab.
Speaker B:I have, well, speed.
Speaker B:The whole Ahab comparison is all over.
Speaker B:And I think that there's something that, in fact, I want before we get to that, because I.
Speaker B:The whole Indianapolis speech is obviously a very iconic moment in this.
Speaker B:There's also.
Speaker B:In that scene is another moment that I really love, and that is the everyone comparing their scars in their injuries.
Speaker B:And it's just.
Speaker B:It's just great.
Speaker B:But the Indianapolis monologue is a wonderful moment.
Speaker B:Moment harrowing like that.
Speaker B:The whole scene.
Speaker B:One of those.
Speaker B:I think, one of the most powerful monologues in cinema.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker B:Yeah, it's definitely great.
Speaker B:And then comes after that, a moment of levity.
Speaker B:Where Richard Dreyfus starts singing.
Speaker B:And you want to do it with me?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:And one, and a two and a one, two, three.
Speaker A:Show me the way to go home.
Speaker B:Does it get worse and worse as we go?
Speaker B:You will always have me singing this song.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'll play the real thing for a second here.
Speaker B:They do it better, sort of.
Speaker B:This is in my head all the time, Sam, actually.
Speaker A:Where we're going.
Speaker B:Wherever I may roam by land or.
Speaker A:Sea or f.
Speaker A:Show me the way.
Speaker B:To go home I'm tired and I.
Speaker A:Want to go to bed.
Speaker B:But, like, honestly, anytime, like, I.
Speaker B:I'm stuck at work late.
Speaker B:Like, this song pops into my head, and then I think, like, some sharks gonna probably attack me through the window.
Speaker A:No, it's brilliant.
Speaker A:And I love that moment right before that in the scar comparing scene where, like, there's one.
Speaker A:One shot of Roy Scheider and he just, like, looks at a scar.
Speaker A:He's like, no, I can't compete.
Speaker A:I can't.
Speaker B:Ahab was obviously a major influence on this.
Speaker B:I think, like, Spielberg mentioned somewhere that he wanted to, like, somehow get rights to Ahab to be somehow more in the story.
Speaker B:I don't really know.
Speaker B:Like, to make.
Speaker A:They actually, like.
Speaker A:They shot a scene where the.
Speaker A:Where there was an introduction of Quint watching Moby Dick.
Speaker B:That's what it was, maybe.
Speaker A:And they filmed it, but then they had a rights issue where, like, the Moby Dick team was like, no, you can't use that.
Speaker A:I've seen that scene.
Speaker A:I don't know where I saw it.
Speaker A:It was good.
Speaker A:Kind of jarring.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker A:But I do prefer his blackboard finger entrance.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's what they did instead.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But so clearly he goes full Ahab in this movie.
Speaker B:He clearly.
Speaker B:Obviously.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But what I think is really neat about the twist on this, in some ways is that there's actually a scene in this where.
Speaker B:During this where Quint is shooting the harpoon and the shark is dragging the orca.
Speaker B:And this is, like, where Quint is really gone now.
Speaker B:Full Ahab.
Speaker B:And there's a turning point where he is.
Speaker B:Quint knows he's met his match and he's ready to die.
Speaker B:And it's become where I think many times I watch this where, like, you kind of, like, in some ways hate Quint because, oh, man, this guy's so arrogant.
Speaker B:But really, it's fatalism.
Speaker A:Like, he.
Speaker B:He is like, he's destroying the radio because he doesn't not.
Speaker B:He wants to go down with the ship.
Speaker B:He wants to fight the Shark to the death.
Speaker B:And he takes.
Speaker B:He's accepted that he's probably gonna die.
Speaker A:In this and he wants the glory too.
Speaker B:He's like, yeah, but what's interesting twist on this is that when Quint actually does die, he goes down like a chump and he is screaming at his fear and he's going down kicking and screaming.
Speaker B:It is not a noble death.
Speaker A:No, it's violent and awful and it's.
Speaker B:Like, just like undignified.
Speaker B:And it's.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:And that's what's so ironic about this, that it's actually not what he envisioned it would be.
Speaker B:And he's scared.
Speaker A:I love how scared he is.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:I like.
Speaker A:I love.
Speaker A:At the end.
Speaker A:Towards the end, where, like, you see, Quint's really afraid.
Speaker A:And also Richard Dreyfus is terrified once the boat stopped.
Speaker A:And he's realizing, like, there's that one line where Roy Scheider is.
Speaker A:Looks at Richard Dreyfus.
Speaker A:He's like, have you ever seen a shark do this before?
Speaker A:And Richard Dreyfus cuts him off and is like, no.
Speaker A:Like, they are just.
Speaker A:They are.
Speaker A:I love how terrified they are at the end because all their expertise and everything goes out the window.
Speaker A:They've never seen a shark do this before.
Speaker A:Jaws is like, no pun intended, showing its teeth because, well, this is a shark.
Speaker A:Regular shark behavior.
Speaker A:Then towards the end, the shark is like, full on predator, hunting them down.
Speaker A:And both Shaw and Dreyfus are like, holy.
Speaker A:Like, we can't believe it's doing this.
Speaker A:It's chasing us.
Speaker A:I can't believe it.
Speaker A:That's what I love about it.
Speaker A:It just Spielberg knows that he's got the audience and he just ratchets it up as high as it can go and.
Speaker A:Yeah, but no, I hear you.
Speaker A:Quint's death, that's what I love about it.
Speaker A:It's so preferable if he had this cool, like, smooth, like, I'll take him and, like, shoots him and then just gets sucked underwater.
Speaker A:It wouldn't have had the same impact.
Speaker A:I love the fact that his deaths was messy and violent and screaming and just like, it was just raw.
Speaker A:It was great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I think at the end, Brody has a stand.
Speaker B:That boat's going down and she was the oxygen tank.
Speaker B:I think mythbusters has said that this is not possible, but whatever.
Speaker B:But I love it.
Speaker A:I just.
Speaker A:It's like, it's such a satisfying, like, even though it's impossible, it's such a satisfying, like, blow up smile, you son of a.
Speaker B:Proof.
Speaker A:It's perfect.
Speaker A:I think in the picture Peter Benchley novel.
Speaker A:Yeah, multiple times.
Speaker A:And the shark just, like, sinks to the bottom.
Speaker A:And like, that would have been so anticlimactic after all that.
Speaker A:I love the explosion.
Speaker A:Spielberg, early on, before they were shooting, said this hilarious thing where the producers, Richard Zanuck and David Brown hired him, and they're like, you did so well with duel in the truck.
Speaker A:And Spielberg wanted to do Jaws, but he said something along the lines of, I don't want to be known as just a shark and a truck director.
Speaker A:Which I thought was funny because he's like, come on, guys, I want to be known for more than that.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Which is hilarious.
Speaker B:And speaking of duel, he did recycle that.
Speaker B:The sound of.
Speaker B:I don't know what.
Speaker B:I forgot what animal was.
Speaker B:But that roar, when that hustles over the cliff, you hear the truck, like, dying and roaring.
Speaker B:Same thing when jaw.
Speaker B:When the shark is descending into the ocean after it's been blown up, you hear that same.
Speaker B:Exactly the same piece of audio, I think, is what he said.
Speaker B:Recyc.
Speaker A:Exact same audio, recycled audio.
Speaker A:I love how he, like, thematically tied that in.
Speaker A:I also like how the movie ends perfectly as they're swimming away.
Speaker A:He's like, what day is this?
Speaker A:And they're like, Wednesday or Tuesday, I think.
Speaker A:I love that the movie just stops there and it shows a wide shot of them coming up on the beach.
Speaker A:And the John Williams music is emotional.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:There's no.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:It for.
Speaker A:It's just perfect.
Speaker A:Like, it didn't need another five minutes where they're heroes and they're people interviewing them on the beach.
Speaker A:Like, what happened out there, guys?
Speaker A:Like, I find that movie, the end of the movie, surprisingly emotional.
Speaker A:And one thing you reminded me of how Quint's death is so brutal.
Speaker A:I feel like all the.
Speaker A:Everyone's death in that movie is very violent and animalistic.
Speaker A:No one has a kind of stylized Hollywood death.
Speaker A:Alex Kitner or Chrissy Watkins and Quint.
Speaker A:All their deaths are so visceral and brutal.
Speaker B:And especially the guy in the pond.
Speaker B:Oh, God.
Speaker A:He's like, you guys okay over there.
Speaker A:His death is brutal.
Speaker A:Then when his leg just sinks out, like.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think we've.
Speaker B:We've covered a lot of this.
Speaker B:I think we're good.
Speaker B:I would like to get to our rating and our decision on this.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker B:But, Sam, before we do that, something in this field could be releasing the chemical into the air when there's too many of us together.
Speaker B:Don't eyeball Me boy.
Speaker B:I see mother driving up and down.
Speaker A:The street looking at me.
Speaker A:I'll be your stepfather about a week.
Speaker A:It's a bad time, Bob.
Speaker A:I'm serious.
Speaker A:If I leave now, I'm not coming back.
Speaker B:You ever hear the expression, you got.
Speaker A:A face only a mother can love?
Speaker A:Let's just stay ahead of the wind.
Speaker B:It is time for wall casting where we recast somebody from this movie with Mark Wahlberg.
Speaker B:Now this after I want to do this, I want to surprise you with this, Sam.
Speaker B:And after I did this, I realized that this is actually not could be easy or hard, but Mark Wahlberg was in a movie not that unlike this with the Perfect Storm.
Speaker B:So it feels like this would be too easy.
Speaker B:So I want to challenge you, Sam.
Speaker B:Find somebody, maybe a deep cut in this movie.
Speaker B:I have one.
Speaker B:But you know, where would you go with this?
Speaker B:Because it feels too easy to just throw it.
Speaker B:Like you could replace Quint with Mark Wahlberg because he's done this.
Speaker A:So when you.
Speaker A:When you say deep coat a deep cut, you mean use.
Speaker A:Try to use Mark Wahlberg somewhere in the movie in a role very.
Speaker A:That you would not think of him at first is what you're saying.
Speaker B:Maybe not.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:And I got one.
Speaker A:You go first.
Speaker A:I got to think about.
Speaker A:I'm fascinated.
Speaker A:What do you think?
Speaker B:I want to recast him as Deputy Hendrix.
Speaker A:What's the matter with my printing?
Speaker B:So Hendrix, he's that like awkward under prepared.
Speaker B:He's that small town deputy who I.
Speaker B:He's.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I'm trying to figure out what other movies I've seen him in, but he's really good in this.
Speaker B:But I just think that Mark Wahlberg would add something huge to this tiny role because picture Mark running out like he's in Lone Survivor, screaming like, everybody out of the water now.
Speaker B:I don't care if you're in the kayak.
Speaker B:Sharks don't care about badges.
Speaker B:He would over commit to every task.
Speaker B:Like Brody says, mark, tape off the area.
Speaker B:And he's like, you want police tape or electrical tape?
Speaker B:He'd be overthinking everything.
Speaker B:I got both in the truck.
Speaker B:We gotta lock down the beach tighter than Fenway park during the playoffs.
Speaker B:He would totally over commit to everything that Brody asked him to do.
Speaker A:That is brilliant.
Speaker A:He would be.
Speaker A:He would definitely be intense.
Speaker A:That's a good one.
Speaker A:I, by the way, speaking of Hendricks, I will say a really brief mention.
Speaker A:I'm not going to go into it.
Speaker A:We'll.
Speaker A:Maybe we'll talk about some other time.
Speaker A:JAWS 2 is a decent sequel.
Speaker A:Obviously it does not hold a candle to this film, but I've always enjoyed Jaws 2.
Speaker A:I must say not to throw Hendrix under the bus, but the actor who played Hendrix gets a lot of screen time in Jaws too.
Speaker A:And, man, some of his acting weaknesses come through.
Speaker A:I feel cruel saying that, but that's like.
Speaker A:Because he's this perfect side Spielberg in character, but, but in Jaws 2, Hendrix is front and center a lot.
Speaker A:And some of his lines, man, I feel bad.
Speaker A:Acting is a challenge.
Speaker A:I'm throwing him under the bus, but I have to say what I feel.
Speaker A:My apologies.
Speaker A:And I know his name and I'm blanking, but let me see.
Speaker A:Mark Wahlberg, boy, that is.
Speaker A:There's such, as you say, low hanging fruit.
Speaker B:Jeffrey Kramer is the actor.
Speaker A:Jeffrey Kramer.
Speaker A:Jeffrey Kramer.
Speaker A:I apologize.
Speaker A:You did a worthy job.
Speaker A:Maybe it's not your fault.
Speaker A:Gino Zwark directed Jaws too.
Speaker A:And yeah, you got, you see.
Speaker A:But hey, you got a bigger part in the sequel.
Speaker A:It's pretty cool.
Speaker B:Jeffrey Kramer's still with us.
Speaker B:He's 79 years old.
Speaker A:Oh, happy to hear that.
Speaker B:And I'm gonna.
Speaker B:I will.
Speaker A:My apologies.
Speaker B:Send them a link to the show.
Speaker B:Not only he has been dissed by you, he has been recast by me.
Speaker A:Poor guys.
Speaker A:He's a good guy.
Speaker A:Mark Wahlberg.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:I don't, I'm trying to think of.
Speaker A:Oh, God, who the hell, who would I pick, man?
Speaker A:I mean, I was going to go with the obvious Brody, but it's way too.
Speaker A:I can't do it.
Speaker A:I mean, his Brody would be so energetic.
Speaker A:He'd be like, well, not only.
Speaker A:We're not only going to have to close the beaches, we're going to have to hire someone to kill the shock.
Speaker A:This is a big deal, Bob.
Speaker A:You can't do this.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Maybe I cast him as one of the.
Speaker A:As the guy.
Speaker A:I think it's Ben Gardner who has that shot where he's like going and he's like, wait a.
Speaker A:Like, see what our mothers chase?
Speaker A:A blobbity blah.
Speaker A:And he has.
Speaker A:I would do that.
Speaker A:But with Mark Wahlberg's high, like M.
Speaker A:Night Shyamalan energy where he's like, guys, we gotta catch it.
Speaker A:Get the dynamite.
Speaker A:We're gonna get the shot.
Speaker B:If we don't get it first, they're.
Speaker A:Gonna get the money.
Speaker A:We need the money.
Speaker A:I got a wife and I got kids.
Speaker A:And the summer season's running out.
Speaker A:I need $5,000.
Speaker A:Throw that thing in the water.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I guess I'd cast him as Ben Gardner.
Speaker A:That's good.
Speaker B:All right, let's get to.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:I forget, do I have a.
Speaker B:Do I have a bumper for our verdict?
Speaker B:I don't remember.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:It's been a long time.
Speaker B:It's getting late, too.
Speaker B:So let's talk about our rating and vault decision on this.
Speaker B:Sam, what is this movie?
Speaker B:Is this.
Speaker B:Is this a good movie?
Speaker B:Is this a.
Speaker B:What do you get this from one to five?
Speaker A:I would give it two and a half.
Speaker A:Not very suspenseful.
Speaker A:No, I can't even.
Speaker A:I can't even joke about it.
Speaker A:Like, it just.
Speaker A:I was like, hurting my body on a cellular level.
Speaker A:I mean, for me, it's a.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:This is the movie that got me interested in movies and is the reason why I took an interest in.
Speaker A:In directing in the first place.
Speaker A:So many people say that this movie is just iconic.
Speaker A:It's beloved across the world.
Speaker A:I'd have to give it, for me personally, five stars.
Speaker A:And absolutely, I'd put it in the ball.
Speaker A:Bet you didn't see that one.
Speaker B:Didn't see that one coming.
Speaker B:And I had nothing more to say about this.
Speaker B:I don't think we've said a single bad thing.
Speaker B:Except for the one shot that you just think is.
Speaker A:And the shot isn't that bad.
Speaker A:I just thought the guy's acting was really cheesy.
Speaker A:When he stops, he's like, what's going on?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:This is a five star movie.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's in the vault.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:We've added to it, so yay.
Speaker B:It's been a while.
Speaker B:Let's see what's left here.
Speaker B:We are just going to.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker B:Let's do our recommendation shelf.
Speaker B:Sir.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker B:Are either one of these any good?
Speaker A:I don't watch movies.
Speaker B:Well, have you heard anything about either one of them?
Speaker A:I find it's best to stay out of other people's affairs.
Speaker B:You mean you haven't heard anybody say anything about either one of these?
Speaker B:Nope.
Speaker A:Well, what about these two?
Speaker B:Oh, they suck.
Speaker B:All right, time for recommendation shelves where we recommend a movie that to.
Speaker B:I guess as a double feature with Jaws.
Speaker B:And to this episode, we wanted to go with High Seas Adventures, something as a theme with Jaws.
Speaker B:I just pulled this out of my ass.
Speaker B:All right, you know, what can I say, Sam?
Speaker B:I was kind of like throwing this idea.
Speaker B:I was predicting you were going to go with Master and Commander, so I was hoping that you wouldn't.
Speaker B:But I will not go.
Speaker A:I will not go with Master and Commander.
Speaker A:The joke here, for anyone listening, is that I've recommended that movie about 4,000 times during the 100 episodes previous to this.
Speaker B:That's more recommendations than we have episodes, Sam.
Speaker B:How is that?
Speaker A:Yeah, so basically I recommended it like 200 times per episode.
Speaker A:That's terrible math.
Speaker A:But something like that.
Speaker A:Do recommend it.
Speaker A:Love that movie.
Speaker A:But for this I will go with a different route.
Speaker A:I would say if we're doing a double feature, it's hard because after you watch Jaws, it's.
Speaker A:There's nothing that can top it.
Speaker A:So I don't know what order this would come in.
Speaker A:This is a movie that I find interesting.
Speaker A:It's very flawed.
Speaker A:It's not perfect.
Speaker A:I've always been a big Ron Howard fan.
Speaker A:Sometimes his films are hit or miss.
Speaker A:His great ones are great, great.
Speaker A:And some of the ones that miss, really miss.
Speaker A:This movie is kind of in the middle.
Speaker A:It's called in the Heart of the Sea.
Speaker A: Came out in: Speaker A:Not box office death.
Speaker A:But it's an interesting movie about a novel that is based off the real white whale that Herman Melville was inspired by what he based his novel Moby Dick on.
Speaker A:And I forgot to write notes, but I think the name of the ship in the movie is the Endeavor or something like that.
Speaker A:But it's based on a real story.
Speaker A:There was a white whale that wreaked havoc on a whaling ship and kind of put a chink in the armor of the whaling industry because this had not happened before.
Speaker A:Really interesting movie.
Speaker A:Chris Hemsworth is in it.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker A:It's flawed.
Speaker A:It has some not great computer graphics and a kind of an odd pace.
Speaker A:But it starts in New Bedford and we see the world of that.
Speaker A:Ron Howard makes some interesting directorial choices and it really is a high seas adventure.
Speaker A:They go way out into the doldrums, out past South America, around into the Pacific.
Speaker A:Some really cool spectacular scenes with the whale.
Speaker A:And not, I mean not to get reveal everything, but they do get stuck on an island and they have to resort to cannibalism.
Speaker A:So it's an up and down movie.
Speaker A:But I've always enjoyed it.
Speaker A:I've watched it a couple times.
Speaker A:I would cautiously recommend it.
Speaker A:It might not be for you.
Speaker A:It's oddly filmed, strange editing style, weird color grading.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:There's a lot of green hue in this movie.
Speaker A:But it's an experimental film.
Speaker A:I enjoyed it.
Speaker A:I would recommend in the Heart of the Sea.
Speaker A:Interesting Ron Howard movie and I love the score.
Speaker A:I'm blanking on the name of the composer.
Speaker A:I know that.
Speaker A:But the music is amazing and I've played it in my car over and over again.
Speaker B:So I see Roque Banos.
Speaker A:Yes, Roque Banos.
Speaker A:That's it.
Speaker A:He just.
Speaker A:It is a moving score.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:The score is like, makes the movie for me.
Speaker A:I think.
Speaker B:I'm glad you brought this up because this is a movie that I saw and then completely wiped from my memory.
Speaker B:I know I saw this and I think it's because I was really looking forward to this and I think I was disappointed by this.
Speaker B:I don't remember much about it, but I'm curious if it might land on me differently now.
Speaker A:I can really understand that.
Speaker A:It really is not great.
Speaker A:It's kind of all over the place.
Speaker A:And if you were really looking forward to it, like, I can see it.
Speaker A:Disappointing.
Speaker A:I just came into it blank with no expectations and I find it very atmospheric.
Speaker A:And I like the scenes where with Brendan Gleon and the actor who plays Herman Melville also played Q in the last few Daniel Craig movies.
Speaker B:Ben Wishaw.
Speaker A:Yeah, Ben Witcha.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Their interaction is great.
Speaker A:I just find the atmosphere and so it's flawed.
Speaker A:But it's a really interesting movie.
Speaker A:I like it.
Speaker A:I would give it a solid three stars.
Speaker A:But you, you can't.
Speaker A:If you're expecting this incredible movie that's going to be like.
Speaker A:That's gonna rival Jaws or be like spectacular, you will be.
Speaker A:You'll definitely be disappointed.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think, yeah, I'm not gonna comment because I don't really remember much about it.
Speaker B: think that it was probably in: Speaker B:And it was just, just.
Speaker B:I know it didn't land on me, but hey, you know what?
Speaker B:I might be worth watching again sometime.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker A:The trailer for it was incredible.
Speaker A:Probably better than the overall film, but yeah.
Speaker B:All right, well, thanks for that recommendation.
Speaker B:The movie that let's see, I am recommending is called all is Lost.
Speaker B:Have you seen this one, Sam?
Speaker A:I have seen that movie.
Speaker A:I enjoy it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:This is one I really like and it holds a couple special places in my life.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:It's a really interesting.
Speaker B:It's almost like a Sorkin esque story about an investment banking firm which is trying to navigate this financial crisis.
Speaker B:It's a really.
Speaker B:It's a cool film.
Speaker A:Zachary Quinto is in that.
Speaker B:Yes, yes.
Speaker B:He spoke at Indie Film Week and I got to ask him a few questions afterwards.
Speaker B:And they're both probably really stupid questions, I'm sure, but I won't forget that moment.
Speaker B:So he was almost like a nobody back then.
Speaker B:I think that movie hadn't even come out yet.
Speaker B:I'm pretty sure he was talking about it.
Speaker B:So anyways.
Speaker B:But years later, All Is Lost came out and actually many years later.
Speaker B:And that became one of my favorite films.
Speaker B:But I've returned to this film several times for various reasons and just to give some context.
Speaker B:It's about a man played by Robert.
Speaker B:Robert Redford, I think, in a stunning performance, battling the elements in a fight for survival, alone in the open ocean.
Speaker B:But what I love about this film, that it's almost entirely dialogue free.
Speaker B:And when you think about it, it almost makes complete sense.
Speaker B:If you're stranded at sea and no one around, you're not probably talking all the time.
Speaker B:You're just doing right.
Speaker B:And Redford emotes so much with.
Speaker B:With is just his eyes and expressions and that's what.
Speaker B:Actually I think he's perfect for that because he's got.
Speaker B:At his age, he's got such this like wrinkled up face and his eyes say so much.
Speaker B:Even more before he had all that plastic surgery, which is too bad.
Speaker B:But still it's perfect casting.
Speaker B:And honestly, it's probably my favorite performance of his in the last 25 years.
Speaker B:Maybe since the Last Castle, which is one of my favorite films of his in the last.
Speaker A:Last.
Speaker A:That's a good movie too.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:I saw that recently, actually.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So this film also had a big influence on me when I was preparing for one of my own projects a few years ago called the End Is Nigh.
Speaker B:And I made that with my daughter Chloe.
Speaker B:And this, this was like mandatory viewing for me and Chloe as I want her to study Redford's performance to see how you can communicate without saying anything at all.
Speaker A:All.
Speaker B:And I think Chloe actually did a really good job in her performance.
Speaker B:And so I guess I should probably go ahead and thank Robert Redford for that and how well she did it.
Speaker B:But it's really truly, I think, a master class in.
Speaker B:In that style of acting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:This is why I love the film so much.
Speaker B:And it's just so much tension and that mounts in this film.
Speaker B:So I love this film.
Speaker B:And it's just one man by himself, battling the elements moments.
Speaker B:I love movies like this.
Speaker A:It's also brutally realistic and suspenseful.
Speaker A:You just watch and you're like, oh my God.
Speaker A:Totally unrelated.
Speaker A:Literally just made this connection now.
Speaker A:But in in the Heart of the Sea, there's the actor Benjamin Walker.
Speaker A:He is like one year younger than me.
Speaker A:I really like him a lot.
Speaker A:He plays Gilgalad in the Rings of Power and I just now realized it was the same person.
Speaker A:He plays the captain in the Heart of See Random Fact.
Speaker A:But I like him as an actor a lot.
Speaker B:I always wonder where else I've seen him in things I have to.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I literally that did not think of that until just now.
Speaker A:I was like, wait a minute.
Speaker A:That's the same guy.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:I feel like there was.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Yeah, I know you mean.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:So that is.
Speaker B:Those are our recommendations for this episode.
Speaker B:That probably brings us to the end.
Speaker B:Is there anything else we want to mention and anything recently you saw that you want to talk about?
Speaker A:I would just give a quick shout out to.
Speaker A: I saw the live action the: Speaker A:I agree with all the reviews that say, honestly, there isn't quite a justifiable reason for the movie to exist because the third animated film only came out six years ago and clearly like they want to milk the profit because what Hollywood company doesn't?
Speaker A:But I must say I found it to be a cut above a lot of other Disney live action remakes.
Speaker A:It's not Disney, it's Universal.
Speaker A:But I thought the heart of the story was there.
Speaker A:I thought the flying sequences were great.
Speaker A:I actually really enjoyed it.
Speaker A:This is just a stylistic thing.
Speaker A:They look like the costume design and the look of the movie.
Speaker A:They look like sometimes like amusement park.
Speaker A:Cause players and I would have preferred to have seen a very gritty, realistic, dark viking world.
Speaker A:But that being said, I thought Gerard Butler's performance was excellent.
Speaker A:I thought he added a lot and I thought the other actors were good.
Speaker A:But if you want to see that movie, I would see it.
Speaker A:For his performance.
Speaker A:He added a lot.
Speaker A:And I thought the director, Dean Dublois did a good job of.
Speaker A:Clearly he's remaking the animated film, which he also directed, but he adds human weight and he puts in some story moments and changes it up where he can.
Speaker A:Because I think Universal's ultimatum for him was to make the exact same movie again.
Speaker A:And to his credit, he changes some things up, some improvements, some interesting character development developments which for me made it worth seeing.
Speaker A:So I was pleasantly surprised.
Speaker A:I did not think it was going to be great.
Speaker A:I enjoyed it.
Speaker A:I'd give it Like a BB plus.
Speaker B:Well, you say like how do they justify.
Speaker B:Why does this movie exist?
Speaker B:Well, as of today, $220 million is why it exists.
Speaker A:That's exactly why it exists.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker B:And already the sequel has been greenlit, so duh.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Which I don't mind because I thought the second animated film was okay, but I'm actually looking to the live action sequel because it might be better.
Speaker A:The first one's a classic.
Speaker A:The second one I feel is muddier storytelling.
Speaker A:So I can't wait to see what they do with whole the live at.
Speaker A:Why not?
Speaker A:I'm on board.
Speaker A:Do all three of them.
Speaker A:I'll be there.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Excellent.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't know if I was to see.
Speaker B:I was not in a big rush to see this because I am just really down on the liveaction remakes, but.
Speaker A:Oh, I hear you, man.
Speaker A:Me too.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I would surprise.
Speaker A:I was not expecting to like it.
Speaker A:I was kind of surprised.
Speaker B:I will say.
Speaker B:I did take my kids to see the Lilo and Stitch live action which I actually thought was not, not bad at all.
Speaker B:So you can't really.
Speaker B:I'm contributing to this problem and it actually wasn't bad.
Speaker B:It wasn't bad.
Speaker B:The only other thing, I have not been to many movies out and about.
Speaker B:I've been so busy, we didn't really do a catch up session.
Speaker B:You know, we could have done that up front.
Speaker B:But I think it's good that we got into the movie.
Speaker B:The one thing I'll just say is my movie watching has been limited lately.
Speaker B:I've been so busy.
Speaker B:I did a play in the month of May which was a lot of fun, rewarding, but kind of glad we're past that.
Speaker B:It was great.
Speaker B:The only other movies I saw out I saw you had on your list here as well was Sinners and Mission Impossible 8.
Speaker B:Sinners I thought was fantastic.
Speaker A:I thought that amazing.
Speaker B:One of the best movies I've seen in the last year or two.
Speaker B:Mission Impossible 8.
Speaker B:I'd like to actually ask you about that.
Speaker B:Where does that, where does that rank on your Mission Impossible oeuvre?
Speaker A:Well, here's the thing.
Speaker A:I liked it.
Speaker A:I thought the submarine sequence with Tom Cruise and the biplane sequence were amazing.
Speaker A:I must say though, I felt the movie was top heavy with an enormous amount of expository dialogue and callbacks and hyping you up and remembering other movies so much.
Speaker A:So remember that.
Speaker A:It's like, remember this, remember that?
Speaker A:Remember this character?
Speaker A:What about this?
Speaker A:There was so much hype and so, so much building.
Speaker A:I Found the movie to be a little bumpier and less fluid than what I felt were superior entries from the same director like Fallout or Rogue Nation.
Speaker A:I didn't think it was bad.
Speaker A:I just thought it was a little.
Speaker A:The stakes were so high.
Speaker A:It was so hyped up.
Speaker A:There was so much repetitive, expository dialogue.
Speaker A:I honestly think the film could have been a half an hour shorter.
Speaker A:And I wish that there was more smaller action sequences peppered in.
Speaker A:There was this really cool fight in the log cabin in the Arctic.
Speaker A:And I felt that what some of the other films had were you always have a huge spectacular action sequence in all the Mission Impossibles.
Speaker A:That's a given.
Speaker A:I felt this film was missing some of those smaller scale set pieces.
Speaker A:If they had a little more of that peppered in, a little bit shorter bit, a little.
Speaker A:A little less bludgeoning expository dialogue, I would have liked it better.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I don't know where it falls in the ranking, but I think I even enjoyed the Final Reckoning.
Speaker A:I mean, Dead Reckoning Part 1, slightly more than this film.
Speaker A:Good.
Speaker A:But I was just.
Speaker A:I found I was kind of exhausted by it, but it wasn't bad.
Speaker A:Decent review, but just a little.
Speaker A:It put so much into it.
Speaker A:It was like, this is the final one is huge.
Speaker A:It's huge that I just felt run down by it a little bit, if that makes sense.
Speaker B:Yeah, I know.
Speaker B:Totally get that.
Speaker B:I did like it.
Speaker B:I totally hear you on the callbacks.
Speaker B:There was a lot of like.
Speaker B:And not just like.
Speaker B:It was almost like just taking clips of like little montages of past scenes to jog our memory.
Speaker B:I actually did take the time to watch the previous seven films leading up to this last.
Speaker B:This pre.
Speaker B:This last film in like a two week period, which was exhausting.
Speaker B:But I'm glad I did it because my God, if I didn't.
Speaker B:There were so many callbacks to, I think almost every single previous Mission Impossible movie.
Speaker B:And some deep cuts too.
Speaker A:Deep cuts and callbacks.
Speaker A:And I don't mind callbacks.
Speaker A:Like, I think they're great, but the problem is when there's so many of them, they remind you of your experience of the other movie.
Speaker A:And it's like.
Speaker A:But wait a minute.
Speaker A:We're supposed to be telling the story of this movie.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:This might be an unfair question, but I'm curious.
Speaker A:Do you have a favorite Mission Impossible?
Speaker B:I was going to ask you that as well.
Speaker B:I think it might be a.
Speaker B:Well, my.
Speaker B:It still could be Ghost Protocol, because the.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:What is the tower?
Speaker B:The tall.
Speaker A:Oh, The Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Speaker B:Yeah, that.
Speaker B:That still is the pinnacle of Mission Impossible for me.
Speaker B:That whole sequence and fallout is great.
Speaker B:Rogue Nation is great.
Speaker B:I don't know which of those three.
Speaker B:It probably changes between those three, but those three is the sweet spot for the franchise for me.
Speaker A:I agree wholeheartedly.
Speaker A:Honestly, I think Ghost Protocol might be my favorite one.
Speaker A:Even though I've seen Rogue one, I find.
Speaker A:I can't believe.
Speaker A:Rogue Nation I find is really good for repeat viewings, but I feel like Ghost Protocol is probably a better.
Speaker A:Ghost Protocol might be my favorite, but what you just said.
Speaker A:I'm on the same exact.
Speaker A:I feel the same exact way.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I'm high on Mission Impossible 3 too, because I think it actually is the best villain.
Speaker A:Oh, Philip Seymour is great.
Speaker A:Mission Impossible 3 has gone up.
Speaker A: I saw it in: Speaker A:I hadn't seen it for years.
Speaker A:I watched again recently.
Speaker A:I like it a lot.
Speaker A:It's a good one.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's got the least amount of stakes, except for it's got the best villain.
Speaker B:But Philip Seymour Hoffman's like saying, like, I'm gonna hurt her.
Speaker B:I'm gonna hurt her.
Speaker B:Like, he is just.
Speaker B:I just love him so much in that.
Speaker B:And I There.
Speaker B:It's a flawed movie.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker B:There's so much.
Speaker B:There's a lot of flaws in that movie.
Speaker B:And when I watch.
Speaker B:Watched it again about a month ago, like, there's so much good in this movie.
Speaker B:I think this is where we are introduced to Simon Pegg and a lot of the team in that.
Speaker B:But yeah, when Phil.
Speaker A:See what happened is like, Ethan, you hung me out of an airplane.
Speaker A:You can always tell someone's character when they don't have to be nice to someone.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:There's a lot of good stuff.
Speaker B:And there's a lot of things in that that set the tone for the franchise going forward.
Speaker A:Forward.
Speaker B:And even more so with Ghost Protocol in Brad Bird, the way he handled it.
Speaker B:But I go back to Mission Impossible 8 for just a moment because it is very.
Speaker B:It's very bloated.
Speaker B:And I do kind of look at.
Speaker B:There's one.
Speaker B:There's two things just want to mention.
Speaker B:The major callback is obviously one of the characters that they brought back from the first Mission Possible.
Speaker B:I forget his name now.
Speaker B:I'm blanking at it.
Speaker A:I liked that.
Speaker A:That was great.
Speaker B:It's not just a little cameo he has.
Speaker B:He's not just.
Speaker B:He's not just there.
Speaker B:He delivers a really full character and has stakes and his wife in it.
Speaker B:Like, I was really Invested in his character.
Speaker B:I want him to do more.
Speaker B:I hope he gets worked this cat, this actor, because he's really good in this movie.
Speaker A:Me too.
Speaker A:He was great.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:On the flip side of this, I think one of the problems with Final Reckoning and also with Dead Reckoning is the villain that we have this character, the bad guy really is not a bad guy.
Speaker B:It's AI.
Speaker B:It's this thing.
Speaker B:And I think that was actually in the.
Speaker B:When they were conceiving this two parter was a mistake.
Speaker B:Because the only thing we have is a 1:1 person played by I think Esai Morales.
Speaker B:I think that's.
Speaker B:Is that right or am I get the wrong person person here?
Speaker A:No, I think, yeah.
Speaker B:Morales plays like.
Speaker B:Like the human personification of somebody who's sympathetic to this AI taking over the world.
Speaker B:He is not a strong enough villain to carry this.
Speaker B:And I wish there was something else.
Speaker B:The fact that the bad guy is not really even a person.
Speaker B:It's this entity.
Speaker B:I hate the thing called the entity so much.
Speaker B:I think it sounds cheesy.
Speaker B:It sounds like they could not think of anything better.
Speaker B:I don't like that.
Speaker B:And I think it's a weakness to what I think is like one movie, this Dead Reckoning.
Speaker A:I hear that.
Speaker A:I thought the entity was sort of mysterious in Dead Reckoning Part one, but by the second film when like Tom Cruise hooks into it and like has all these like visions, I was like, what am I watching?
Speaker A:Like a Star Trek dooms?
Speaker A:What is this?
Speaker B:It becomes like science fiction.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:I think that Mission Impossible needs to stay in its lane and year it off.
Speaker B:Stick with the stunts, keep into like espionage and stakes that maybe might need to be more tangible.
Speaker B:I think it was a mistake going this route with the entity being the Big Bad.
Speaker B:So that's all.
Speaker B:I really got it.
Speaker B:I think it was okay.
Speaker A:Would you say that despite some entertaining set pieces that Mission Impossible to two is probably the weakest?
Speaker B:It is.
Speaker B:It is my least favorite.
Speaker B:I think that's me too.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think, although again rewatching that it is.
Speaker B:It is John Woo.
Speaker A:I mean, honestly, I love John Woo.
Speaker A:Like there's some entertaining, some great entertaining scenes.
Speaker A:It just.
Speaker A:Overall, tonally, the movie is a weird kind of misfire somehow.
Speaker A:But I like I.
Speaker A:I was watching it again recently and I enjoyed it more than I remembered.
Speaker A:But comparing it to the others, especially Brian De Palma's the first one that's like this full on like spy thriller, it just.
Speaker A:It doesn't quite work for me, I think.
Speaker B:I think as the franchise Moved on and kind of found its traction.
Speaker B:The second one becomes a weaker entry because it's such a oddball in the franchise.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's the other thing.
Speaker B:Like, it's.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker B:But that's.
Speaker B:Yeah, I guess that's how I feel.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, anyways, I can't think.
Speaker B:We've probably.
Speaker B:There's more movies we could probably catch up on, talking about.
Speaker B:But I think that's okay for now.
Speaker B:I would just want to ask you one other question, Sam.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:This summer.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:If you're going to see one movie this summer, what's it going to be?
Speaker A:If I could only see one movie.
Speaker B:Coming out in the theater.
Speaker A:If I could only see one movie coming out in the theater, just one, and there's a bunch of them that I want to see, but if I was only allowed to see one, I would see Nobody 2 with Bob Odenkirk.
Speaker A:Because that looks so hysterically interesting.
Speaker A:Just exactly like.
Speaker A:I love the first one, and I just.
Speaker A:The trailer is so over the top.
Speaker A:It knows exactly what it is.
Speaker A:I have a feeling I'm going to have a boat blast at that movie.
Speaker A:If it's what I think it's going to be like.
Speaker A:I can't wait to see it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Interesting.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:There's others I want to see.
Speaker A:If I had one choice that I thought totally.
Speaker B:Well, I know you weren't.
Speaker B:You were kind of soft on the Jurassic World trailer.
Speaker B:You were saying?
Speaker B:I thought I.
Speaker B:I'm definitely.
Speaker A:I'm really looking for, like, I'm gonna see it.
Speaker A:No question.
Speaker A:I'm gonna go see it.
Speaker A:I'm gonna see it on imax.
Speaker A:Like, I will.
Speaker A:Will absolutely not miss it.
Speaker A:I love Gareth Edwards.
Speaker A: gue One, and I even liked his: Speaker A:Like, he does action in a way I enjoy.
Speaker A:I'm on board for Jurassic, but I just chose Nobody, too.
Speaker A:Because if it was the only one I was allowed to see, it has a slight edge.
Speaker A:But of course I'm gonna go see.
Speaker A:I never get tired of dinosaurs chasing people.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker B:Okay, but one movie.
Speaker B:You're seeing Nobody too.
Speaker B:That is the.
Speaker A:Is Nobody Too.
Speaker A:Nobody too Official.
Speaker B:I'll just say I.
Speaker B:I think I have to see Superman, you know?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:I forgot about that.
Speaker A:Yeah, of course.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, you're seeing nobody, too.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker A:I'm seeing nobody, too.
Speaker A:No, you know what?
Speaker A:Nobody Too still wins for me.
Speaker A:If I had one choice, it's Nobody too.
Speaker A:I'm standing by that.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:I'll be in my Theater.
Speaker B:You be in your theater.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:I'll see you at the popcorn stand.
Speaker B:Okay, fine.
Speaker B:Fine, fine.
Speaker A:That's fine.
Speaker B:All right, well, I think that about does it, right?
Speaker B:We did it.
Speaker B:We made 101 episodes.
Speaker B:I feel like now we have this odd number.
Speaker B:We're now screwed.
Speaker B:We're committed to going to 200 now.
Speaker B:No, I'm only kidding.
Speaker A:We should.
Speaker A:We should definitely do the Odyssey next summer.
Speaker A:I think that'd be fun.
Speaker B:The Odyssey, which.
Speaker B:Wait, what's the Odyssey?
Speaker A:The Chris Nolan Odyssey movie.
Speaker B:I forgot that's what it was called.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:Maybe I thought it was still untitled.
Speaker B:Okay, cool.
Speaker A:Maybe it is untitled.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:But it's based on the Odyssey.
Speaker A:Whatever it is.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:All right, well, that is it.
Speaker B:Unless I'm thinking I'm forgetting.
Speaker B:No, that's it.
Speaker B:Let's just go.
Speaker B:Let's go to bed.
Speaker B:All right, we're done.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Hey, it was fun.
Speaker B:We did it.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker B:Oh, I should probably do the host outro, because that's what I used to do, right?
Speaker B:That is our show for the week.
Speaker B:Back to the frame rate is part of the of the Weston Media Podcast Network.
Speaker B:Thank you to Brian Ellsworth for our show opening.
Speaker B:On behalf of all of us, we bid you farewell from the fallout shelter.
Speaker B:If you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave a rating review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.
Speaker B:Because you never know, we might do another episode someday.
Speaker B:Yeah, you never know.
Speaker B:You will always find our episodes@backtotheframeright.com this is the end of our transmission mission.
Speaker B:Back to the frame rate.
Speaker B:Signing off.
Speaker A:Wants you to know it's over.
Speaker B:Well.
Speaker A:Bye.
